▸ Battle Scars - Paradise Fears

"Y'all rang?" I called out towards the boys as I passed players on the sidelines. Scott sighed in relief and jogged over to me with Liam and Corey in tow.

"We've got a problem." Scott said.

"I thought we were working on that problem?" I perked an eyebrow.

"Well, our problem has a problem." Liam stressed.

"You know how we got everyone into the bunker?" Corey asked. I nodded, crossing my arms. "Some escaped and are about to play on the field."

"We need to protect them." Scott added. "And we need you help."

"Okay." I nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

"Stay on the sidelines. Be as close as you can to the players, okay? IF we need help on the field you won't be that far away from the fight." Scott instructed. I nodded. "I'll take Steinbach and Wallace." Scott looked at Corey and nodded towards the female lacrosse player tying her shoe on the bench. "You take Gwen." He looked at Liam next. "You're on Okafur."

"What if I see Ghost Riders?"

"Yell." Liam replied.

"Then get ready to fight." Scott nodded. The referee blew his whistle.

"Be careful out there guys." I warned.

"We'll be fine. We've got a demigod on our side." Scott smiled and nudged me.

"I'm being serious."

"So am I. You got a sword and we got claws," Scott drifted his gaze towards Corey. "Expect for Corey. But he can see the Ghost Riders, so we're good."

"Do I have to remind you that these guys have guns?" I spastically waved my arms. "Swords, claws, blades. Whatever. I'm okay with those. But Scott, these are guns with bullets. We can all easily be hit."

"We'll be fine." Scott placed a hand on my shoulder. "We've got this."

"We can do this. We're bad asses." Liam nudged my shoulder, a small smile playing in his lips. I closed my eyes and huffed.

"You guys are idiots. You're lucky I'm here to save all of your asses." I opened my eyes to see the two werewolves grinning like fools with Corey softly smiling.

"McCall! Dunbar! Whoever you are! Get your asses on the field!" Coach Finstock yelled. The three of them ran onto the field and into their positions. I stood in my spot, crossing my arms as the game started. Coach stared at me, narrowing his eyes. "Why aren't you sitting in the bleachers Vis?"

"I got a pretty good view right here Coach. You're yelling and the sounds of boys crying in pain is music to my ears." I sarcastically said.

"That's the type of attitude these girls need! You tell your weird friends that, Vis." Coach grinned before facing the game. I blinked in confusion.

"Nev!" Turning around, I saw Mason sitting in the first row of the bleachers with Sydney and Lori above him. He waved me over. I smiled and sat next to him.

"Hey Nevah." Lori smiled and waved at me.

"Hey Lori! Long time no see. How are ya?" I smiled back.

"I'm doing good." She replied back.

"That's great."

"Sorry, to interrupt, but I need to talk to Nev." Mason cut in.

"It's okay." Lori nodded before going into a conversation with Sydney.

"You know the plan?" Mason whispered.

"Sadly, yes. What's your part?" I asked.

"Find a way to beat the Ghost Riders."

"Good luck with that." The audience booed and I looked back at the game to see Corey getting up off of the ground. The buzzer went off signifying that the opposing team scored a goal.

I winced as a Liam and Gwen rammed into each other. A few seconds later, the other team made another goal. Geesh, why is our lacrosse so bad every time we are try and save the day? Scott bumped into two other lacrosse players, the three of them falling onto the ground. I let out a groan, throwing my head back. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shook my head.

"What are doing out there? I'm going to kill the three of you." Coach yelled.

"Do these guys even practice?" I overheard Lori asking Sydney.

"Not enough." Sydney responded. I glanced at Mason anxiously. He gave me a worried look, bouncing his leg. "It's just first period."

"They could still win." Lori added.

A few minutes had gone by and we were still losing. Number three from Beacon Hills and number fifty-five jumped into the air to catch the lacrosse ball. Number fifty-five ended up ramming his stick against number three's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Yes. Yes. Yes!" Mason exclaimed, standing up. Furrowing my eyebrows, I looked at him with an astonished expression. I heard the crowd cheer as the other team scored another goal.

"Wrong team." Sydney and Lori both told him.

"Sorry." Mason started to walk away.

"Wait, Mason!" I got up, following after him. I grabbed his arm. He stopped and turned to face me. "What was that about?"

"I think I know a way to stop the Ghost Riders."

"What? Okay, what is it?" I asked.

"Not what. Who. Parrish. When we were at the party, they stopped and looked at Parrish. They-they left." Mason quickly explained.

"So, like the hellhound part of him or the human part?" I tilted my head.

"Most likely the hellhound. I gotta go get him. Stay here and help them. The Ghost Riders will come." Mason instructed before running off.

"Yup, got it." I muttered, walking back towards the game. The referee blew his whistle at the players. Two boys, both from different teams, fought on the ground. There were others yelling at each other. I saw Liam shove another player before taking his helmet off and walked towards Scott. "What in the Hades?"

"Yes, Dunbar! That's the kind of passion I want to see. Unleash hell!" Coach encouraged. Squinting my eyes, I stomped over towards him.

"Coach!" I scolded. He turned to face me and jumped.

"Holy! Vis! What the hell are you doing over here?"

"I get lacrosse is a violent sport, but don't encourage them to fight!" I wagged my finger at him. Coach blinked. Then he laughed. My eye twitched. "This is no laughing matter! They can get seriously hurt, Coach!"

"Yeah, and like you said 'lacrosse is a violent sport'. Get off the sidelines, Vis." Coach shooed me away. I grumbled in Ancient Greek, taking a step towards him. Two pairs of arms grabbed me and dragged me away towards the field.

"Let me at him!" I struggled against Liam and Scott.

"As entertaining as that would be, save the violence for the Ghost Riders." Scott let go of my arm. The ref blew the whistle again, pointing at me and then towards the bleachers. I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh, fine." I groaned out, stomping off of the field. The whistle blew again and the game started. A sudden harsh breeze cut through. It started to rain, thunder booming over us.

"They're here." Corey ran up to Scott, taking his helmet off. Everyone else was soaked expected for me. Hopefully no one will notice because I am too lazy to will myself to get wet. Pushing that thought away, I ran towards Scott and Corey.

"Liam!" Scott yelled.

"I see 'em!" Liam stood next to Gwen, a few feet ahead of us. The both of them stared towards the woods. All of the stadium lights sparked as they blew out. It was pitch black and people were screaming. I heard the all too familiar whistle. People started to run towards the parking lot to get some cover.

"Oh, come on, ref! This is barely a thunderstorm!" Coach screamed. Thunder boomed. Liam grabbed Gwen and ran our way.

"Okay. We've got all three, right?" Scott asked. I turned around to see two other lacrosse layers.

"Scott, there were four." Liam stated.

"Styx." I uttered. Liam and the rest faced the woods again. Scott looked at Corey and then grabbed his wrist. Getting the gist of what he was doing, I copied his motion and touched Corey's arm. I'm gonna have to see the Ghost Riders to fight anyways. A flash of green light evaded my sight before I saw the Ghost Riders.

'Lady Nevah?'

"It was you guys." I breathed out, dropping my hand from Corey.

"What?" Liam sputtered out. Everyone turned to face me.

"A few days back, when you and Scott were practicing out here. Remember when I said I heard someone talking? Yeah, it was the horses." I rushed out, still eyeing the Ghost Riders.

"You talk to horses?" Okafur nervously laughed out. I turned to face him and narrowed my eyes at him.

"You got a problem with that?"

"N-no." He stuttered, taking a step back.

"Don't scare him, Nev." Liam placed a hand on my shoulder. Screaming cut off my sass remark. We all followed the voice of the scream to see a Beacon Hills lacrosse player being dragged across the field by a Ghost Rider. Then there was a green cloud of smoke surrounding the player. Once it went away, the lacrosse player was gone. My hand twitched towards my bracelet.

"Oh my God. They're real!" One of the lacrosse players shouted behind me. "We got to get out of here!"

"Stay together. We'll protect you." Liam ordered.

"How?" Gwen asked. Tapping my charm, my sword grew in my hand. "Oh my God! You have a sword!?"

"First she talks to horses and now she carries a sword with her?! This is insane! You are all insane!"

"Yeah?! Well these insane people are keeping you alive so shut up." I spat back, keeping an eye on the three Ghost Riders who were heading towards us.

"Run!" Scott demanded. We all turned to run, but we were cut off by the Ghost Riders. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed that we were circled in. Great.

"Stay close!" Liam started to bring the players closer to us.

'We're sorry Lady Nevah, but we have to.'

"It's okay." I replied, giving the horses a nod. More Ghost Riders started to circle us. I cursed in Ancient Greek. One of the Ghost Riders got his gun out and shot one of the players. He disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

"I can still see them!" Scott freaked out. I glanced at him to see Corey had moved away.

"Scott, I hate to break it to you buddy, but once you touched Corey, you automatically got to sight to see them. Which means, we are both also targets. What a joy, right?" I sarcastically explained to Scott. He turned to face me.

"Sarcasm is not appreciated right now Nev!" Scott told me. I tilted my head at the familiar sentence. Whom have I heard that from? Liam growled, catching our attention. We saw him jump at a Ghost Rider, knocking him off of his horse. "Liam!"

Liam threw punched at the Ghost Rider before he was pushed off. The Ghost Rider stood up, aiming his gun at the beta. Scott growled, his eyes flashing red before he attacked the Ghost Rider.

"Oh, I can attack now?" I twirled my sword. Another cloud of green smoke evaporated behind me. "Yup, attack now."

I sprinted forward and swiped at the Ghost Rider, making sure not to injure the horse. The Ghost Rider let out a grunt and fell off of his horse.

"You guys better run off, okay? Make sure they don't get you." I mumbled to the free horses. They neighed and ran off. Cracking my neck, I walked towards the fallen Ghost Rider, pointing my sword at him. He sat up, clutching his side. "If I were to kill you, do you also go up in green smoke or?" The Ghost Rider looked at me and said nothing. "Okay, I guess we will have to find out."

That being said, I slashed my sword at the Ghost Hunter's chest. He stilled and fell backwards laying stiff. Hmm, so they don't turn to smoke. Turning around, I saw the Scott, Liam, Corey, and Gwen huddling together. Taking a deep breath in, I ran towards them. Gwen pushed past Scott and Liam standing in perfect shot if the Ghost Riders.

"Come on!" She yelled.

"Gwen! No! Wait!" I exclaimed, running faster. One of the Ghost Riders got his gun out and aimed it at Gwen.

"No!" Scott started to go after Gwen. The gun shot out a bullet. It hit Gwen. Green smoke fogging around her body. Scott caught her only for her to disappear. "No!"

I stopped, tears pooling. I was too late. Looking around, I noticed that the Ghost Riders had disappeared. We couldn't save them. Slowly, I went over towards the pack. They faced me, defeat and despair written all over their faces.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, looking at the blood on my sword. "I wasn't able to protect them."

"We couldn't either. Wait, is that blood on your sword?" Scott stepped closer, eyeing the blood.

"Yeah. I was able to kill one." I mumbled.

"Nev. We weren't able to claw at them. You were able to kill one. You actually did something." Liam proclaimed.

"Why is that?" Corey asked.

"I don't know." I raised my sword in front of me, expecting the blood. "Could it be that it's made of Celestial Bronze or?"

"Whatever it is that killed it, you killed it." Scott awed.

"Well, it doesn't matter. They still got the people we were supposed to protect." I glumly said. They all frowned at my words.

"Let's go find Mason and Hayden." Liam muttered. We all started to walk off of the field when Liam cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

"Liam!" We rushed towards him. I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay? Where are you hurting?"

"My ankle. But I'm fine." Liam waved in dismissal. Corey, Scott, and I all glanced at each other. "Scott, why don't you go ahead and check up on Argent and Malia. We'll go find Hayden and Mason."

"You guys sure?" Scott asked.

"We got him." I nodded.

"Okay. Meet me in the hallway at the entrance of the school, okay?" Scott informed. We all nodded and then went our separate ways. Corey and I had Liam's arm around our shoulders as we looked for Mason and Hayden in the school.

"Guys?" Mason called out. We stopped in our tracks and looked down the hall to see Mason and Hayden. They ran over towards us.

"What happened? Where's everyone else?" Hayden asked. She saw Liam and how we were carrying him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Still healing." Liam grunted out. Hayden walked over towards him and he let go of Corey and I. Hayden wrapped an arm around his waist to help him out.

"The Ghost Riders got them. We couldn't save them." I sadly stated.

"But Nevah managed to kill one." Corey inputted.

"What?" Hayden questioned. They all looked at me.

"Hey, I have no idea as to how I was able to harm them and no one else wasn't." I held my hands up. "Besides, we better meet up Scott. Hopefully Malia and Argent were able to protect everyone else."

The five of us walked through the hallways to the place Scott wanted us to meet. Turning a corner, we saw Scott talking into the phone. He turned to face us and hung up the phone.

"Everyone from the bunker has been taken." Scott told us, walking our way.

"Everyone? How?" Mason questioned.

"It doesn't matter how. Malia is at the hospital. Argent's been hurt. My mom's with them." Scott turned to walk away. I went to follow him.

"Scott." Liam hobbled towards his Alpha. He started to shake his head. "Tonight.."

"No. hey, it's not your fault." Scott softly told his Beta. "It's mine. We should have done both. Defend the bunker and use a lightning rod. It would've given us a better chance."

▷

Scott and I arrived at the hospital and went straight to looking for Argent's room. We went straight towards the ICU where Malia texted us to meet them at. Once we go to Argent's assigned room, we noticed that it was empty. I leaned against the wall as we waited for them to return. Steps echoed through the hallway. Looking up, I saw Melissa, Malia and another nurse pushing Argent in front of his room in a hospital bed.

"Is he okay?" Scott asked his mom.

"He has blunt force trauma to his temporal bone, three broken ribs, and multiple surface lacerations which seem to be from whip marks?" Melissa explained to us. I glanced down at Argent to see him squeezing his eyes shut from the pain. "What he needs is a lot of rest."

"What happened?" Lydia walked over towards us. The nurse and Melissa pushed the hospital bed into the room. Scott, Malia, and I met her half way.

"The Ghost Riders took everyone. We barely slowed them down." Malia informed.

"The only good thing was that Nevah was able to kill one of them." Scott added.

"You were?" Lydia looked at me with wide eyes.

"Yeah." I muttered. "Tell us you found something. Anything about Claudia?"

"I found out Claudia never had children. So, Stiles can't be her son." Lydia swallowed. I frowned, an ache in my heart forming.

"What about a relic?" Malia questioned. Lydia slowly shook her head. "There never was a Stiles, was there?"

"It doesn't even sound like a real name." Scott sadly shrugged.

"He's real guys. I know it." I urged.

"We have to keep looking." Lydia agreed. "Check the school records again. Or call Scott's dad.."

"We're fighting the wrong battle." Malia countered, shaking her head.

"We're trying to bring Stiles back." Lydia argued.

"The Ghost Riders came back. We still have no way of stopping them. And whatever they are, they're real." Malia rebutted.

"I mean, I can try and kill them all, but that won't help us with finding Stiles." I anxiously wet my lips. "We need to find Stiles. He is real. "

"We can't keep chasing someone who isn't." Malia shook her head.

"He didn't leave anything behind." Scott added.

"Just us." Lydia finished. I looked at the ground, taking in what they were saying. Closing my eyes, I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give up on him. I can't. I'm going to continue looking. He has to have left a relic somewhere and I'm going to find it." I strongly said, looking at each of them before walking away.

SHE KILLED ONE! WHAT!?

Did yall expect that?

I will try and updated Dither tomorrow so if you also read that story, keep an eye out:)

until next time.

much love,

Lux xx